Knitting machine



Oct. 21, 1930. T. s. GRIEVE KNITTING MACHINE I 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 29, 1928 Hill Ill Oct. 21, 1930. -r. s. GRIEVE KNITTING MACHINE- Filed Sept. 29-, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z 0 m r T 7W4 0 r. a M W fiat. 21, 1930. T. s. GRIEVE 1,778,974

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 29, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Hilllllllllllllllllmllmu THOMAS 560 T7 GA /E V6 ATTORNEY Patented Get 251; 1930 J 'rI-ioMAs sco'rr'ea rnvn; CELEICESTEEENGLAND- a .i

cgl'vrrcriiie MACHINE? Application filed Septem'her 2-9; 19aas ria1 No.30a1e7, 3. 1 1 in Great BritainMay 7 51928, This inventioncomprisesiinprove nentsin Fig, illustrateslatype ,needlejianda or relating to knitting 'rnachin'es and hasrefg slidere nployed- 1n th s nvention. erenceto machines of the dou'ble oi s uper- F 1g; 31llustrates an alternative posed cylinder type adapted forthe produc- "5 tion of ribbed fabr'ics. c

An object ofthe preseiitinvention is to provide in this class of machinemeans for enabling an extensiverangeOf' patternsandv pattern effects togbe;v produced. I Q The principal feature of he present invention consists ineifectin'g the selective v I I I II I II I I I I sliding displacement'of'the'needles inei'ther 'lirelnafterdescrihed and aselectorcain for or both cylinders of a 'douloleor suerp sedeg W l ,"Sa1d sliders.

cylinder knitting machine h'y'the provision Fig 4 is'a diagrammatic vievv illustrating 55 therelative positions 5r 'certain'of'the parts 7 1 of the machine concerned. j 1 Fig; his a fragmental, plan vievv illu'sti'at ing partvo'f one of the, needleicylili dersp a 60 ie c particular arrang'en'ien't of sliders therein,

Fig. 6' is a detail endelevation:of a sea of sliders associated withsaid needles or on I I jacks co acting With said sliders of a pluralb flfl ,v I :I I I I g, diagrammatic view ofa parity of spaced butts andfc'arns adapted selectivel'yto engage with said butts.

i Another feature of-the inventionponlsists in the employment in a'machine as above of ticular arrangement sliders; c'o actingj Jacks andcams, hereinafteridescribed, and

Figure 8 isa side elevational'view I v isl'ider andia. jack f i-actingtherewith";

lector Uca n in engagernent vvith' thef '55 or, both cylinders "to take thread froni'one' plural butted sliders or jacks and cams-selecs tively engaging Withsaidbutts for effecting the transfer of selected needles from onecylinder to anothenJ isohtained as a result of the selective transfer of the needles resides in the production rib can' he varied knitted course.' v p Yetanother feature consists'fiin th-e'ein pl'oylnent in a niachine'of the type referred to of plural 'butted sliders an d a plurality of cams for selectively engaging' with said butts so as to cause s elec'ted'needles masher at any predetermined ormoreof a plural ity'of yarn feeds in each knitted course and thus; produce plated'patternsin the fabric.

' For the purpose ofniore fully describing the nature of this invention, reference will now-be rnade to the accompanying drawings Wherei'n: II f I p r Fig. 1 is a. cross-sectional: elevation through theneedle cylinders of a' circular knitting m'achineof the superposed cylinder type, showing one method. of applying the,

present invention; 7: i 7

further feature offthe invention vvhich *i eedles, from one 'eylinder'to the other, say

- i n f he Pre ent 'i ven e a llo certain ofthe slidersin either or bath y1in ders are also prQvided W'ith one orinore ad;

theslid'er; H I I 1' A plurality ofthreadfeede'frsfas shovvndia- 7 machine, taken at. a right angle to Fi ure 1 and showing the controldrum andj sele'c ng' I levers.

alignmentcfitted with 'd-oube-ended nediesfe for the-production of ribbed fabric, f certain I 'usu'a'l int-his type ofnl'achine, vvithinifthe -11 1' tricks l'in eachcylinder abo'vefandfbelovv the t I v of the needlesfoperatingone the I remainder in the other cylinder.

needles are, fitted ,slid ers li a apted to engage the 'iieedle' jhooksQ and in drderflto transfer from l the upper to thelower cylinder; the 1 upper sliders arereleased frorn the upper need-1e hooks and the lower'slidersarehoolged 'f 'on ,tothe needles and operated ajcam 'de vice to' draw dovvn the needles} the numeral lfi in Eigureland iii a preferred ditional hutts eas er)? ieea e I ll, of the sliders .are provided ting 'butt 5.3 for. ngagement by theiusual knitting vcams 'diagramati cally indicatedjb'y grammatically at 1,7 in Figurel of'any con-.

venient known type are installed, one adapted to supply a ground or body thread to the me dles and another a plating thread, the plating feeder being clispesed higher thanthe'ground feeder in the customary manner, and in order to permit of the needles being variably selected to take plating thread, a plurality or series of selector cams 6, is employedex terior to either or both needle cylinders so i "as to coact with the aforesaid additional butts '5 on the sliders prior to'the needles taking their thread. V v These selector cams 6,, conveniently compriseplnnger members 6 nounted' one above, another ,to-sl de 1nasu tablebracket'lf,radially of the machine, said plungers'being 'disposed in horizontal alignment with the additional butts-5P, on the sliders 5, andeach plunger being. adapted to gbe pressed inwardly te wards, the .slidersagainst. spring. resistance by pivoted lever' mechanism operable from -a suitably driven rotating .patternwheel,

chain or the likeS'. On this pattern wheel "er drums, is a seriesof projecting butts or cam ,p1eces 9,wl11ch' cam pleces are arranged 'ln clrcumferential rows on the drum. 1th

each row of cam piecesa pivoted crank arm10 andcaus'ing said cam to engagewith certain of the-butts onithe sliders registering there wlth so as vertically to displace the sliders.

;;It will be understood that the num ber of plungers or selector cams 6, coincides with the number-of pivoted members 10,:operated 1- r from the patternwheel' or drums.

Altho' gh as has been previously stated, sliders5,,l1aving pattern selection-butts 53 abattery of plunger cams 6,- and means. for see 'r r park n ma' y, i 'd r' provided inconnectionwith either; or-both needle cylinders of the machine, is -,prefe1flable to provide; same inlconnection iwith the 1 bottomlfiylinder 2 0nly,'.and to select ftheneedles: to prodnce plated; patterns in the fabric fafterj all of said needles have been transferred to the lower'cylinder to producer plainii.- :e. unribbed fabric; I

' n; this r amb e appneation or mention, the; operation-is such that all needles gare causedby theiusual stitch cams totalie thread from the ground feeder, and only those ncedlesiselected by the aforesaid select on-cams wading th the QQ fiQ LbPFtS ,5", 'on the sliders .are raised to a v higher ,position to take the platingthread, a pattern beingthus P 39 d cedthe. natu f; which is a et rmin d the j acks l by the arrangement of the cam pieces 9 on the 7 pattern drum or wheel 8, acting upon the sprlng lnfluenced selector cams 6, 1n con unc tion with the disposition of the slider butts 5 If desiredthe thread feeders may be 'constructed and, operated any convenient means so asto enable the relativepositionsof same to be reversed, therebycausing the thread previously used as a gro und thread to become aplating thread and vice versa,

If desired, instead of providing the additional butts 5", as aforesaid on the'sliders said 15, see Fig. 3,0perating in the needle tricks and co-ac'tin'g' [with-said sliders, and where such separate jaclrsare employed a suitable cam 16 is conveniently-provided ahead of the; selector ca1ns6, seeFig. 7 ,tojco-act with butts onthe slidersjso as to depress orm'ove those sliders selected at anykn'itted course and their j jcoacti-ng acksinto a position' to be re-selected I by the saidcams 6;

-butts may be provided upon separate jacks I Elf-desired, certain of the needles may be provided with cow-acting sliders haying addi tional integral buttsb", and the remainder provided with slid'ersof the usual type'f(see Figg 3)" adapted to be selectively operated by i [The nose portions ofgthe selector camsfor engagement with the-slider 0r---:j ack butts are 7 suitably inclined or diagonally} disposed to effect the requisite sliding notiOIl-Of theslid- 1 ers-or jacks. QShoul'df however the end faces of a selector cam come into engagement with. a slider butt before such butt has reached a position to enableisame to ride over an inclinedface of the selector cam, the. sliding pin which pressesagainst and effects inward movement of-the selector cam' .is' depressed against'itsspringfMF thus enabling said inward movement of the selector cam to beretarded and prevent'any possibility of the slider butt-becoming fractured or damaged.

, A further oralternativeprecaution against damaging the slider bntts when introducing the selector. cams. and means whereby a selOO lector cam"mayberiintroduced definitely at a i predetermined needle are illustrated in, Fig.

5." Atithat particular needlewhere a selecjtion is to commence the slider V appertaining thereto and Z a plurality of adjacent slidersto .begselected 'may be providedwith butts 5 longer thanthe' remaining butts '5? provided it at the samei height on the other sliders,;sucl1 anarrangementallow ng the selector earn 6 to be introduced; just prior to the leading long butted slider, at which the selection is to commence being brought into contact with saidjcaml Upon theslide'rs havinglong butts 5 engagingwith the cam, they. are caused to bez' aised andffride over an'inclinedface of the cam, as illustrated in Fig; 6, which then meves forwardto itslfuli extent to-engage all the butts provided on'th'e sliders at that height. -Inthismanner endthrust on the g l the needlesv i Briefiytherefore it may be said that acslider butts 'by'the'cam 6' when the said'cam is being introduced is eliminated anddefi-- nite selection, commencing. at any predetermined needle, is assured v If desired, the butts upon jacks may be of varying lengths, to enable an increased range of patterns to be obtained; in which casethe cam pleces on the pattern drum or wheel areof varying heights so as to press the selector cams in to varying distances to select a greater-number of'combinationsof sllders and needles. v

When employing a slider having additional patterning butts 5 in conjunction with each needle, the selection of the needlesto produce plated patterns maybe effected byfirstraising all needlesto' the platingheight, i. e.the I height whereat selected needles take theplat 'ingthread, and then, by means of the cams 6, selectively lowering those needles which are to take the ground thread only, just prior to the needles reaching the feeding position.

In cases where several adjacent or successive needles remain unselected. and only .1 take the ground thread, :thus' forming com- *paratively long loose or float threads on. the

'rear face of means may be incorporatedlwhereby one or more of'such needles may be operated to pro the fabric, any suitable known duce a tuck stitch or stitches, thusbinding said float thread to the web.

In lieuof or in .additlon connection with either orboth ofthe'needle cylinders adapted ,to coact with butts asbes, fore described onfthe sliders or jackssoas, to raise or. lower selected needles from one cylinder to the other'to transfer same. By

a i this means it will beappreciated that a predetermined variation canbe obtained in'the rib of the fabric bys'selectivelytransferring cording to this inventionpattern efii'ectsfare produced by. actuating selected needles eitherbyI virtue of such needles taking thread different fromfor additional to those taken by the non-selectedxneedles and/ or by, virtue of such needles being transferred from" one cylinder. to another. In the appendedclaimswhere the context so. permits the expression pattern is held to include patterns pro- I duced by both these means; that is to say, pattern produced by yarn variation or. stitch variation. l

The oneor more displacing selected needles to produce plated or variable ribbed. effects in the fabric "are preferably positioned as indicated at A? in Figure 4 before the stitch cams indicated at B and after the transfer returncam indicated at C at whichposition the said cams may engage with the pat+ the sliders i or.

to the before-- described selector cams for producing patterns in the fabric a plurality oftransfer cams of similar construction may'be provided in normal f position batteries of cams 6,. for

priortosaidslidersreachingitheusual stitch cams-B 71 T eat ansfer retu nl a G returns; all needles transferred at A to" the top l e-selected pr or tqthe knitting of-the next .cg' ursew f .6 lfifi l'- y i d r I represented by 'the -,circle-v .D? and rotates n the clirection .o f the arrow.

cylinder to the bottom cylinder to be i e l ve lo 1 per a yl ppli a e in which the needle .cyli'ndersare stationary mounting the: aforesaid, selector cams and operating means I therefor so," as i120 rotate Q i 7 around the needle cylinders; I

i'ltis to be" clearly understood .that'initlie'.

appended claims where-thejcontextso ipe'zt type as illustrated. in Figure-'2, or'ga slider ure. 3. .Clafimsa 1 +11. 5 c c l r; nning a hine cemp ing a pa1r of superposed needle-cylinders,

tern -butts 5 -.onf 'the sliders} mits the term .sli -der.. s to-beint'erp'reted, broadly ascovering'a slij'deryof-theone piece' and coacting jack, which. togethernonstitute a divided slider, asillustrated'in Fig needles slidably mountedtherein'," sliders cosaid sliders, a thread feeding device, stitch cams for engaging-said knitting butts, a pluon said'sliders, a selectively enrality of. patterning butts plurality of selector cams for acting with said needles, a knitting butt on 1 gagin with said patterning, butts to efiect} selective sliding in a superposed a sprlng' nfluenced plunger member provid cams, pivoted links connecting said needles."

2. A circular knitting machine" comprising a pair of superposedneedle cylinders, needles slidably mounted therein, a thread displacement of the needles, I

abr'acket for supporting said fselector cams manner, concealed j means i for returning each of said latter v cams to its after same has been dis-' placed; aipluralityfof bell crank levers, fa.

sleeve portion formed oneach of'saidlevers,"

ed; within each; of said-sleeve portions, saidi f plunger membersv actuating the selector,

, bell;- crank levers to further bell crank levers, and-,1- a pattern control. device actuatingaid 1atterlevers to effectselective operation of. the V feeding device, sliders co-acting'with said needles, a knitting button each oflsaid sliders, stitch cams engaging said knitting butts, a plurality of spaced pattern butts on said sliders, a plurality of radially slidable spaced pattern cams normally retained'in their outermostposition' byspring means associated! with each of saidcams, an independent bell. (crank lever associated with eachof said pattern-earnsa hellovvhcylindrical heusing on a each of said 'bell'crank levers, pressed plunger provided Within each ofsaid housings, a rod conneetingeach of said hell 7 crank levers toa further bellerank lever,

a rotating pattern drum selectively operat- "ing said bellcrank levers and capableflof moving, through the intermediary of said levers, any one of saidpattern cams into' engagement with the said pattern butts independently of the remainderiof said pate tern'cams and selecting anydesired com? bination" of said -pattern cams for engagement With said'pattern butts'to effect "an extensive selection of'the" needles for slid- I acting with saidneedles, a knitting butt on vice, stitch cams engagingtthe knittingblitts ton the sliders, a plurality of independent pattern butts on said sliders, a plurality of superpesed pattern cams for engaging said "pattern butts, springs for normally retain; 1

-1ng said cams-inoperative, spring pressed plungers for operating said pattern; cams,

pivoted levers carrying; said plnngers, and

pattern control mechanism for operating .1:

said levers;

a spring T S'SC fT E 

